Just in time for Spooky Season, we're diving into horror movies from across the Spanish-speaking world. Here you’ll find only the Freshest scary selections from Mexico (Cronos), Spain (The Orphanage), Chile (The Wolf House), and beyond. Inside each film, an underworld teeming with our favorite monsters. Zombies in [rec]! Creepy kids in The Orphanage! And in The Devil’s Backbone, maybe something beyond…

Check out the top 10 Spanish-language horror film below. See the full list on Rotten Tomatoes.

10. The Orphanage (2007)

Tomatometer: 87%

9. Cronos (1993)

Tomatometer: 90%

Synopsis: Antique dealer Jesus Gris (Federico Luppi) stumbles across Cronos, a 400-year-old scarab that, when it latches onto him, grants him youth and eternal life -- but also a thirst for blood. As Jesus enjoys his newfound vitality, he's unaware that a dying old man, Dieter de la Guardia (Claudio Brook), has sent his nephew, Angel (Ron Perlman), to find the scarab and bring it back to him. But Jesus will not give immortality up easily, even risking the life of his orphan granddaughter (Tamara Shanath).

8. Timecrimes (2007)

Tomatometer: 90%

Synopsis: Nacho Vigalondo's time-travel thriller opens with Hector spying on a beautiful woman undressing in the woods near his property. Investigating, he finds her assaulted and he in turn is attacked by a man whose head is swathed in bandages. Fleeing, Hector encounters a scientific facility where a scientist persuades him to hide in a time machine. Traveling back in time just a few hours, he observes himself.

 

Critics Consensus: Timecrimes is a low-budget thriller that's well-crafted and loaded with dark humor and bizarre twists.

 

Starring: Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga, Juan Inciarte

Directed By: Nacho Vigalondo

 

 

7. [Rec] (2007)

Tomatometer: 90%

Synopsis: A reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman record the horrifying outbreak of a disease that turns humans into vicious cannibals

Critics Consensus: Plunging viewers into the nightmarish hellscape of an apartment complex under siege, [Rec] proves that found footage can still be used as an effective delivery mechanism for sparse, economic horror.

 

Starring: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano, Carlos Lasarte

Directed By: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza

 

 

6. Julia's Eyes (2010)

 

Tomatometer: 90% 

Synopsis: The closer she gets to solving her sister's death, a woman (Belén Rueda) with a degenerative eye disease becomes increasingly blind.

Critics Consensus: Smart, suspenseful, and visually distinctive, Julia's Eyes marks another modern Spanish thriller that quickens the pulse while engaging the mind.

 

Starring: Belén Rueda, Lluís Homar, Pablo Derqui, Francesc Orella

Directed By: Guillem Morales

 

 

5. Piggy (2022)

Tomatometer: 91%

Synopsis: With the summer sun beating down on her rural Spanish town, Sara hides away in her parent's butcher shop. A teenager whose excess weight makes her the target of incessant bullying, she flees a clique of capricious girls who torment her at the town pool, only to stumble upon them being brutally kidnapped by a stranger, who drives off with them in his van. When the police begin asking questions, Sara keeps quiet. Intrigued by the stranger -- an interest that's mutual -- she's torn between revealing the truth and protecting the man who saved her.

Critics Consensus: Brought hauntingly to life by Laura Galán's committed performance, Piggy deftly deploys genre thrills in service of sharp social commentary.

 

Starring: Laura Galán, Richard Holmes, Carmen Machi, Irene Ferreiro

Directed By: Carlota Pereda

 

 

4. The Devil's Backbone (2001)

 

Tomatometer: 93%

Synopsis: After losing his father, 10-year-old Carlos (Fernando Tielve) arrives at the Santa Lucia School, which shelters orphans of the Republican militia and politicians, and is taken in by the steely headmistress, Carmen (Marisa Paredes), and the kindly professor, Casares (Federico Luppi). Soon after his arrival, Carlos has a run-in with the violent caretaker, Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega). Gradually, Carlos uncovers the secrets of the school, including the youthful ghost that wanders the grounds.

 

Critics Consensus: Creepily atmospheric and haunting, The Devil's Backbone is both a potent ghost story and an intelligent political allegory.

 

Starring: Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Fernando Tielve
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

 

 

3. The Wolf House (2018)

Tomatometer: 96%

Synopsis: A young woman takes refuge in a strange house in the woods after escaping from a German colony in southern Chile.

Critics Consensus: Surreal, unsettling, and finally haunting, The Wolf House is a stunning outpouring of creativity whose striking visuals queasily complement its disturbing story.

 

Starring: Amalia Kassai, Rainer Krause

Directed By: Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León

 

 

2. La Llorona (2019)

 

Tomatometer: 96%

Synopsis: Alma is murdered with her children during a military attack in Guatemala, but when the general who ordered the genocide is found not guilty 30 years later, Alma returns to the world of the living to torment the man.

Critics Consensus: La Llorona puts a fresh spin on the familiar legend by blending the supernatural and the political to resolutely chilling effect.

 

Starring: María Mercedes Coroy, Sabrina De La Hoz, Margarita Kénefic, Julio Diaz

Directed By: Jayro Bustamante

 

1. Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)

Tomatometer: 97%

Synopsis: When a girl's mother disappears leaving her on her own, she goings a gang of street children, leading to a tragic chain of events .

 

Critics Consensus: Tigers Are Not Afraid draws on childhood trauma for a story that deftly blends magical fantasy and hard-hitting realism - and leaves a lingering impact.

 

Starring: Paola Lara, Ianis Guerrero, Rodrigo Cortés, Hanssel Casillas

Directed By: Issa López